What You Should Look For In a Web Hosting Company

From the internet marketing point of view, web hosting is one of the most important things to carefully think about when setting up a website. This is because; the speed, data safety, security, and functionality of your website will largely depend on the hosting service you choose. A reliable web hosting plan ensures that your website’s performance and return on investment are not negatively affected by inconveniences such as frequent downtimes, slow-loading pages, and threats such as data safety issues.

Such issues are common experiences with most shared hosting plans, where your website’s information is stored in a public server that is shared by multiple users. With a shared hosting plan, in most cases, you can’t be sure that your customers’ private information, as well as that of your business/company, is safe and secure from hackers, malware attacks, and phishing robots.

A dedicated web hosting plan, on the other hand, provides not only data security that is impenetrable by hackers; it also provides periodic backups, fast connection speeds, minimal downtimes, and excellent customer support. Depending on your needs, you could also go for a virtual private network (VPS) plan, which is more or less an intermediary between shared and dedicated web hosting packages. A cloud-based web hosting plan can also suffice if you’re looking for a package that will handle enormous amounts of traffic with minimal downtime. In a nutshell, there are different types of web hosting plans, each with their own merits and demerits.

Nonetheless, most web hosting companies provide you with the opportunity to choose a web hosting plan that will work best for you and your business. But the types of plans, features, pricing, effectiveness, and reliability of web hosting differs from company to company. This makes it important to take your time and make sure you choose a professional web hosting company that you can rely on.

To skip the mumbo jumbo and jump into the main agenda, here are 5 pointers on what you should look for in a web hosting company.

Reliability and Uptime

Downtime is one of the biggest enemies of online business. Depending on the nature of your online business, several hours or even minutes or hours of downtime can cost your business hundreds to thousands of dollars in sales conversion. Stay away from web hosts with a bad rap when it comes to uptime. They can’t be reliable and can even make you lose you loyal clients for good.

Supersonic Speed

Regardless of whether you rank on page one of Google, no one will stay on a site that takes ages to load a page they’re interested in. of course, most web hosting companies offer a variety of hosting plans you can choose from depending on your target market and online operations. Dedicated hosting plans tend to be the fastest but even then, this will vary from hosting service to the other. Don’t annoy your site’s visitors. Go for a web host that puts website speed first. This improves conversions and reduces bounce rates, which is actually beneficial for SEO.

Exceptional Support

Problems arise every now and then in the computing and internet marketing world. Before choosing a particular web hosting company, be sure to conduct research and find out if they’re dependable when it comes to client support. Preferably, choose a web host that is available 24/7 through support channels such as email, online chat, and telephone. You can test how long they take to respond to queries in addition to checking out online reviews.

A Reputation for Safety and Security

You don’t want to work with a web host company whose servers are fragile and vulnerable to hackers. They should be able to ensure utmost security of your website and business sensitive data, especially when it comes to your customer’s private and confidential information. If your website is the e-commerce type, consider picking a web host that provides SSL to ensure your customer’s payments and related information are safe and secure. Also, ask if they have a data backup plan and how often it’s done to avoid losing sensitive information.

Fair Pricing

Web hosting companies have their own pricing structures. Shared server hosting plans tend to be cheaper but slower and less secure than dedicated server hosting plans. As a matter of fact, some companies even provide free hosting. The best approach is to weigh your options in terms of security, safety, speed, and uptime, do you comparisons; and choose a reliable web hosting company that will suit your budget.

With the above few tips on what to look for in a web host, you’re better off making an informed decision. And in case you’re a bit stuck on where to start, there are quite a number of web hosting company directories. Hosting Foundry can be a good place to start. Otherwise consider research on website hosting review, and there’s a dedicated review site so you don’t have to go far to get reviews on all types of service providers. Look at SiteGround reviews and statistics for an example of the depth of information provided so you can make an informed decision for your business.